Pre-Legal Assessment Letter - Lowell/Barclaycard

[Rebellious Pirate]

Hello,

 

I've not posted on these forums before but I have been an occasional reader and understand they may be occasionally monitored by DCA staff, so I'mm be intentionally vague with some of my personal info...

 

I have been contacted by Lowell regarding an alleged Barclaycard debt that they have purchased.

Although I have had an account years ago with Barclaycard that defaulted whilst in dispute over a number of issues,

I do not recognise this debt as mine as the figure quoted by Lowell is much higher than that which I left in default.

 

 

The amount quoted is a significantly high figure, but is less than £10k.

As I did not recognise this debt I thought Lowells might be trying it on,

so I ignored their contact as I felt I had better things to do with my time and I'm also something or a procrastinator.

 

I open the most recent letter to find that it reads like this:

 

"Having assessed our options, we intend to take legal action to recover this debt

if you do not contact us to agree a repayment plan"

 

"What legal action means"

"1. A claim form is issued by the court."

"2 Court fees, colicitors costs and interest will be added to the claim form which could increase the amount owed"

"3. If you do not respond to the claim form a CCJ may be granted against you"

"4. Should a CCJ be granted, this will be registered on your credit file for upto 6 years and may impact your ability to obtain future credit"

 

"We'd prefer to work with you"

"Our preference is to work with you without taking legal action. Please visit our website, etc etc."

 

There is also a deadline on the leter by which to contact them, which I noticed was not on their other letters.

The deadline is for a date this week (I opened the letter a little late, sadly, but I still have time to mail them)

 

I don't know if anyone else has had this exact letter,

but by the assertive "we intend to take legal action" phrase on it, I'm guessing that this is likely what they will do given how close the Stat Bar date is unless I can take some action to prevent them from doing so...

 

The last payment I made to BC was VERY VERY nearly 6 years ago,

but not quite. We're talking about a matter of weeks here.

 

Other info that may be relevant is that the BC card itself was originally taken out circa 2002

and I've heard the credit agreement info for BC cards can be hard for them to obtain from that time period?

 

 

Further; this card did have PPI on it from inception through to more or less the default,

although not quite, as I do recall it being cancelled perhaps 6 months prior to that.

 

 

I've submitted to claim toward this PPI to-date, but given my employment status at the time

(6 months worth of full sickness pay as a benefit, and so on)

it seems likely this would be considered mis-sold at the time of taking. Just me guessing though.

 

Furthermore, the disputes I had with Barclaycard were regarding penalty charges.

Also, they sent me a letter in early 2010 telling me they had been charging me incorrect interest

and applied a credit to my account.

 

 

I feel that this incorrect application of interest at an earlier stage of my BC contract may

also have contributed to me struggling to make payments at the time, leading to the penalty charges,

and leading to the ultimate default.

 

That last part is perhaps a bit of waffle,

but Barclaycard were pretty terrible at handling my account.

 

 

My last payment was actually to Mercers who took a payment from me on the condition

that they would reduce my balance down to he level I felt it should be at from prior conversations.

They took my money and reneged on the agreement as no adjustments were made, so I made no further payments.

 

The truth is that I was aware this debt would be statue barred very soon,

and wasn't particularly worried about it until Lowells sent me this most recent letter,

as they may well file a court claim literally days before the statute bar.

 

 

I've seen a letter on another site entitled "pre action request for information"

which is supposed to mean that action cannot be taken until my request for information is handled.

Is this is true,

it would make it virtually impossible for a court claim to be submitted prior to the statute of limitations period being reached.

 

However, I want to ensure I'm taking the right steps before I do anything rash.

The last thing want to do is somehow occidentally acknowledge the debt when I don't,

because I never owed that sum of money!

 

Has anyone had a similar experience to this in terms of the timescales and so on..

. is the pre action request for information a good idea, or would there be a better letter to send?

 

 

I'd really like to post my response today or tomorrow so any quick replies or reassurances would be greatly appreciated.

 

 

I'd paste the letter from the other site here, but I'm not sure if that's bad form?

I chose to ask for help on this site as it seems a lot more active

and I've seen some people get great results here from past readings ^^

 

Thanks in advance...

 

Sorry, just to clarify froma typo, I have NOT submitted a claim in respect to the PPI... I somehow made it sound like I had (couldn't find an edit option after I'd posted)

[dx100uk]

letter is designed to get a response

don't!

 

CCA request and or SB defence can be used IF they issue a claim.

 

its a phishing letter ignore

but don't ignore the claimform..IF it comes.

 

std letter from lowells seen loads of times.

 

doesn't matter if you put the ac into dispute

wont stop them if they want to issue

[Rebellious Pirate]

Hi dx100uk, thanks for the response

 

I was thinking that it could be just that,

and if you're really sure about it then I'll bow to your advice (seen many of your posts before)...

 

 

the reason I had a different feel for this letter is that I've been off the radar for a number of years due to moving home frequently.

 

 

This is circumstantial and is not linked in any way to this debt

(I've had many other debts I've been paying back in full; a loan, car finance, overdraft),

but I've recently settled down again and I'm back on the electoral roll and have also signed up to Equifax.

 

 

The Lowell letters arrived shortly after my address updated with the bank and I'd registered for Equifax.

This had me thinking that they may take action based on them knowing where I live.

 

What I forgot to mention in my first post is that two weeks prior to the letter I transcribed above,

I received a letter that said they were going to do an assessment by checking my credit file

and would decide whether or not to take action,

then that letter saying they are going to.

 

 

Is it legal for a DCA to say that they intend to take action and then not do so?!

Because surely that would be misleading..

. haven't they kind of tied themselves into a commitment to actually do it?

 

I thought sending them a CCA letter or a pre-action request for information

might delay the process long enough to prevent them issuing court papers before the statute bar date

 

 

. I'd read that they can't issue if you to the pre-action request for information. Is that incorrect?

the SB date is only a few weeks away,

and them giving me a deadline to reply which I've not seen before is what really worried me

[dx100uk]

let it run.

 

 

as for you other debts

really do hope you checked their legality before blindly coughing up.

 

 

dx

[Rebellious Pirate]

let it run.

 

as for you other debts

really do hope you checked their legality before blindly coughing up.

 

dx

 

The other debts were never in arrears, just saying that I'd continued to pay them.

This has been my only ever default.

 

 

At the time it defaulted I wasn't particularly fussed as I already had a mortgage

and had tried exhaustively with Barclaycard staff to resolve my issues

but I eventually found they they would say anything to get a payment

 

 

then later tell me they had no record of their promises, the calls hadn't recorded that day and so on..

. The current amount lowell are claiming to have purchases is between 5k and 10k.

If they issue a court claim before the statute limit period what are my odds of being able to defend?

 

 

I would consider settling for a small figure if it came to it,

but they amount they say I owe is well off.

I'm expecting it's all penalty charges, interest and Ppi :/

[dx100uk]

The other debts were never in arrears, just saying that I'd continued to pay them.

This has been my only ever default. - who are you now paying?

At the time it defaulted I wasn't particularly fussed as I already had a mortgage

and had tried exhaustively with Barclaycard staff to resolve my issues

but I eventually found they they would say anything to get a payment

 

then later tell me they had no record of their promises, the calls hadn't recorded that day and so on..

. The current amount lowell are claiming to have purchases is between 5k and 10k.

If they issue a court claim before the statute limit period what are my odds of being able to defend?

 

I would consider settling for a small figure if it came to it,

but they amount they say I owe is well off.

I'm expecting it's all penalty charges, interest and Ppi :/

 

stop panicking over a silly threat-o-gram.

a dca is NOT A BAILIFF

and has

NO SUCH LEGAL POWERS.

 

when did you take the card out?

when was your last payment?

 

dx

[Rebellious Pirate]

I know they have no power themselves

but I'm worried they may try to Ccj me

which could in turn, if they were successful,

could lead to them trying to bankrupt me for equity in my home

 

Having said that, if they did issue court papers

I would 100% defend it and even hire someone if I needed to.

I just don't want it to get there.

 

I've double checked and the card was taken out in 2001.

I've sent you a Pm with the last payment date but it was almost 6 years ago

[dx100uk]

like hens teeth are enforceable Barclaycard CCA's from 2001......

[Rebellious Pirate]

like hens teeth are enforceable Barclaycard CCA's from 2001......

 

I did find this attachment on a gov website that seems to outline that to take action

they not only have to say they are doing so but must also include a statement of account a breakdown of charges.

 

 

None of this has been done, they only sent me the threat letter saying they intend to take court action.

 

 

Does this mean they can't even do it?

 

That Pdf file.name does say it's a draft but it appears to be ministry of justice for debt collection...

pre-action-protocol-for-debt-claims-draft.pdf

[dx100uk]

doesn't matter

stop panicking...

[Rebellious Pirate]

Just an update;

they followed up the above letter with a further 'pre-legal' letter with an offer of discount off the balance.

 

 

The Statute Bar period has now passed as it's now over 6 years since I'd made any payment,

and I've never acknowledged any debt since.

 

. Pretty chuffed and just wanted to say thanks.

 

 

Without you, I would have replied

[martin2006]

How big a discount? not that it matters but just shows they know they are on a hiding to nothing.

 

Should they issue a claim and they still might, even after it being statute barred, we can deal with that, relatively easily. pop back if one arrives but dont worry for now.

 

What you could do is check all 3 CRA's to see if the account has gone and they havent sneaked a belated default date in anywhere, dont trust them for a second

[Rebellious Pirate]

How big a discount? not that it matters but just shows they know they are on a hiding to nothing.

 

Should they issue a claim and they still might, even after it being statute barred, we can deal with that, relatively easily. pop back if one arrives but dont worry for now.

 

What you could do is check all 3 CRA's to see if the account has gone and they havent sneaked a belated default date in anywhere, dont trust them for a second

 

Not as big as some others I've seen on here, it was 20%. I've only checked with equifax so far and they have the default date as near the end of the year so it'll be gone by 2017, and the date does match what Barclaycard put. However, there is a run of three or four '6' month late markers prior to the default marker which I've heard is unusual, as it should be right after the 6 month marker perhaps?

 

I'm fully expecting more letters, which I'll choose to ignore, unless they decide to issue a claim in which case I'll be right back here with the details!

[martin2006]

This is BC tho, they registered my default 5 years late, nothing new there.

 

BC usually sell them on to Hoist tho and Robbers Way are the dca used.

[Rebellious Pirate]

Another letter, reitterating the 20% off offer and a deadline that states if I don't reply by that date, they will definitely be instructing solicitors to take action against me.

[dx100uk]

instructing means 'suggesting'

 

 

doesn't mean they will

read the letter carefully...

[slick132]

Hi RP,

 

Sounds like another letter to ignore.